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CP/M forty years on – what it was, and why it still matters

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The lowest level was the BIOS -- Basic Input Output System -- which could perform direct hardware interfacing, such as reading a disk sector. The Basic Disk Operating Sytem -- BDOS -- was built on top of the BIOS, and presented programmers with useful programming metaphors like "Open a file". Typically the CP/M operating system itself would occupy the first couple of tracks of the floppy disk, leaving the rest for application programs and data.

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